Federal motorway 55

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	Bundesautobahn 55 in Germany
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	Federal Republic of Germany
State :	North Rhine-Westphalia
Status:	Planning discarded

The Bundesautobahn 55 (abbreviation: BAB 55 ) - short form: Autobahn 55 (abbreviation: A 55 ) - was a motorway planned in the 1970s that would lead from the A 57 near Goch through the Niederrhein region via Kempen , Krefeld and Grevenbroich to the A 4 in Frechen should lead. On the one hand, it would have relieved the parallel A 57 and, on the other hand, offered a western bypass of the cities of Krefeld and Cologne , but the plans were completely rejected.

Planning history

In the requirement plan of the law on the expansion of federal highways in the years 1971 to 1985 from June 30, 1971, part of the route, later dedicated as federal highway 55, was already included as a highway plan. It was the internally designated “Autobahn 220”. This was to branch off from the route that was then realized as Bundesstraße 9 and today as Bundesautobahn 44 at the Krefeld-Fichtenhain junction, bypass Willich to the east, cross today's Bundesautobahn 52 (then: Bundesstraße 7 ) to the west of the Kaarst -Nord junction , then to today's Grevenbroich junction -Capels and cross the later federal highway 46 (then: Bundesstraße 1 ), northwest of Rommerskirchen cross the then four-lane federal highway 59 , east of Bergheim the then four-lane federal highway 55 or federal highway 229z (later planned as federal highway 54 ) and cross finally flow south of Bergheim into the four-lane projected federal highway 1111 (later realized as federal highway 61 ). From this planning, the section Krefeld - Rommerskirchen corresponded to the later route of the A 55. The section Kaarst - Rommerskirchen was classified in urgency level II, the sections Krefeld - Kaarst and Rommerskirchen - Bergheim were only assigned to urgency level III. In addition, there was the planning of a new motorway-like four-lane federal road as federal road 9n, which later became part of the A 55 planning. According to this, the federal road should branch off from federal motorway 2 between the Kempen and Kerken junctions , run between Kempen- St. Hubert and Kempen, and run between Tönisvorst and Krefeld, in order to finally reach the A 44 east of today's Krefeld- Forstwald junction . The entire route of the B 9n was assigned to urgency level II. As early as 1973, however, this route was also included as a federal motorway plan under the internal name “Autobahn 220”. According to maps from 1973, a northern extension of the A 220 to the area south of Aldekerk was planned.

With the restructuring of the network of federal motorways, which was introduced with effect from January 1, 1975, the "Autobahn 220" was not only given a new name with "Federal Motorway 55", there were also changes in the route. There were initially considerations to continue the A 55 north of the A 2. The A 55 was to be routed west of Kerken and west of Geldern along the old federal highway 9. At Kevelaer it was planned to run the A 55 east of the city and to merge it with the federal autobahn 57 or federal road 67n at the Uedem junction . The final status of this route as a federal motorway has not yet been determined. Between the A 2 and the B 59 ( federal autobahn 540 ) near Rommerskirchen nothing changed in the route of the A 55 compared to the plans for the A 220, except for the plan to cross the A 44 near Krefeld-Fichtenhain. However, compared to the previous route from Rommerskirchen to Bergheim (A 61), it was now considered to lead the A 55 to Rommerskirchen west and south. At Bergheim- Rheidt a motorway should branch off to Pulheim or Cologne-Bocklemünd and at Bergheim- Büsdorf the A 54 should be crossed. Finally, the A 55 was to be taken to Frechen- Königsdorf and connected to the federal motorway 4 there. South of the A 4, a continuation of the route to the federal highway 264 near Frechen was planned, but not as the A 55. In 1976, the federal government's network plans also clearly identified the northern section between the A 57 near Uedem and the A 2 near Kempen as the A 55 contain.

The A 55 between Uedem and Frechen-Königsdorf was also planned unchanged under the law amending the law on the expansion of federal highways from 1971 to 1985 from August 5, 1976. However, the urgency for the entire project was essentially only listed as a “possible further need”. Only the Geldern bypass was classified as single lane in urgency level Ia and a section between Grevenbroich (north-west of Rommerskirchen) and south of Rommerskirchen was classified in one lane as urgency level Ib.

With the second law amending the law on the expansion of federal highways from 1971 to 1985 from August 25, 1980, the end of the federal highway 55 came. The Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 1980 reflected the changed transport policy in the Federal Republic of Germany. This was now under the influence of ongoing citizen protests against the construction of new autobahns and financial constraints. The road construction report 1980 of the federal government states that the projects "must be adapted to the changed conditions, in particular to the current and future financial framework". Priorities are now to take greater account of environmental and energy policy goals, intensify the dialogue with citizens, avoid parallel planning, give priority to investments to maintain the substance and modernize the existing network, including increasing security, rather than building new ones. Since the A 55 was essentially a parallel motorway to the A 57, it was finally canceled. Only the following projects remained:

B 9 bypass Geldern (two lanes)
B 9n west and north bypass Krefeld (Krefeld-Fortswald - Krefeld-Gartenstadt; section Krefeld-Hüls to Krefeld-Forstwald identical to A 55, four-lane version)
B 59 / A 540 Grevenbroich - Rommerskirchen - Pulheim - Cologne-Bocklemünd (section north-west of Rommerskirchen to Bergheim-Rheidt identical to A 55, four-lane version)

All three of the aforementioned projects were assigned to urgency level I.

According to the third law on the amendment of the Federal Highway Expansion Act of April 21, 1986, all three federal highway construction projects were included again. In terms of urgency, however, the west / north bypass Krefeld was also graded, as was the 2nd lane of the B 59 / A 540, which were only classified in level II. Overall, the A 55 remained canceled.

The A 55 was not included in the requirement plan according to the fourth law amending the law on the expansion of trunk roads of November 15, 1993. The Geldern bypass and the Grevenbroich - Rommerskirchen - Pulheim route (single-lane) were still included as ongoing projects. The west / north bypass of Krefeld was only included in the plan between the B 9 (old) near Krefeld-Hüls and Krefeld-Forstwald, but it was an urgent need. The Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2003 did not result in a new addition to the A 55. The B 9 west bypass Krefeld (two-lane, 6.6 km, additional requirement) and the B 59 OU Rommerskirchen and Sinsteden (two-lane, 7.9 km, urgent requirement) were still included.

Individual evidence

↑ Federal Law Gazette 1971, Part I, p. 873

↑ Construction work on federal trunk roads in 1972. Expansion of federal trunk roads from 1971 to 1985. Annex to the road construction report 1972. Federal Minister of Transport, Road Construction Department, accessed on March 31, 2013 (map excerpt).

↑ Construction work on federal trunk roads in 1972. Expansion of federal trunk roads from 1971 to 1985. Annex to the road construction report 1972. Federal Minister of Transport, Road Construction Department, accessed on March 31, 2013 (map excerpt).

↑ Der Große Shell-Atlas, Mairs Geographischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1973/74, sheet 31

^ Structure and numbering of the federal highways. Planned overall network. Federal Minister of Transport, Road Construction Department, June 15, 1974, accessed on September 18, 2013 (map excerpt).

↑ Network of federal motorways and federal highways. Status January 1, 1976. Federal Minister of Transport, Road Construction Department, accessed on March 31, 2013 (map excerpt).

↑ Federal Law Gazette, 1976, Part I, p. 2093

↑ Federal Law Gazette 1980, Part I, p. 1614

^ Information from the Federal Government. Road construction report 1980. Bundestag printed paper 9/812, p. 4. (5.5 MB) German Bundestag, 9th electoral period, September 15, 1981, accessed on April 13, 2013 (PDF file).

^ Federal Law Gazette 1986, Part I, p. 537

↑ Federal Law Gazette 1993, Part I, p. 1877

[1] Federal Law Gazette 1971, Part I, p. 873